"I told you to stay away, didn't I? I told you that I would handle it and, yet, here you are—out here causing a scene and whining about injustices when you were given strict orders to keep your mouthshut." Aziel hissed, his white hair falling into his face as he shoved the man into the stone wall behind him. "If you ruin this for them—"
"Aziel, I would never do that. It was a lapse in judgement. I swear it won't happen again." The man was fumbling over his words, his voice weak and trembling as tears ran down his plump cheeks. "P-please. I promise I won't say another word."
Aziel rose to his feet and motioned for the man to do the same. "And, yet, you're still blubbering like a fool." He sighed.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Aziel. Please." The man held up his hands in front of him, as if doing such a thing would prevent anything from happening to him. "Please don't hurt me."
"Hurt you?" Aziel laughed darkly, his blue eyes narrowed in the very same way he'd looked at her the day before. Venomous. Filled with hatred and disgust. Nymiria could not stop the shiver that ran over her body, but she also could not stop watching. "I'm not going to hurt you, Char. But Iamgoing to give you something to remember the next time you want to open that drunken little mouth of yours. I have worked too hard and sacrificed too much of myself to have some littlegrub-wormruin everything."
The man trembled as he flattened himself against the stone wall. "What are you going to do to me, then?"
Her stomach dropped. She had to do something. Even if this was the worst idea she'd ever had in her life and it would only make circumstances with Aziel worse, she couldn't allow him to kill this man. Because by the look of Aziel's eyes, she was almost certain thatdeathwas where this was going to lead. Without a second thought and a curse under her breath, Nymiria threw herself into the trash bins at the front of the alley, letting out a squawk of surprise as she collided with the metal. The little scream she gave was most certainly fake, but the pain that bloomed through her elbow wasveryreal.
She whimpered softly as she watched a sideways version of Aziel Haze approach her.
Everything about him was sinister. It seemed as if the dark shadows of the alley followed him as he approached her and the smell… gods, he smelled like death. Not like a rotting corpse, but of the earth—of fungus and rot. Like a fallen tree, hollowed out and left to crumble on the forest floor.
Nymiria slowly pushed herself up off of the cobblestone road, eyeing him with the same ferocity as she had during their encounter in the gardens. "You have a knack for being in places you don't belong, Nymiria." Aziel was towering over her now, his long form concealing the sun that blared at his back.
She gritted her teeth and swiftly moved to her feet, still scowling up at him. "According to your father, I'm as welcome here as anyone else."
Though his eyes were downcast, she could still feel him picking her apart from head to toe. He toyed with the straps of his gloves, thumbing away dirt and grime that was not there. "How gracious of him."
Dorid Yaarborough was not a gracious man. The things that Nymiria had to do—the ways she had to scheme to achieve this level of freedom were the very things that haunted her when she looked in the mirror. It never came down to giving him her body, not in a sexual way, but she was a slave to them. She provided companionship and comfort to an evil overlord that did not care about the people in this market that worked day in and day out to bring home mere scraps for their families. He certainly did not care for people likeher.
How could he even deign to claim it when the Seelie were all locked away in camps, working themselves to the bone and living in squalor? He profited off of misery and paraded himself as a savior—claiming that, with the Seelie and other Mystics gone, that the people of Yaar would have more money, more privileges, and better lives.
Nymiria didn't know if Aziel's distaste for his father was true or if it was a way to test her loyalty. She could only assume it was the latter, considering the recent threats against Dorid and Oran's lives. PerhapsAziel was digging into her so deeply to see ifshewas the one plotting their deaths. "I take whatever freedoms His Royal Highness allows me and I am grateful for them." Her voice was emotionless. She prayed that Aziel could not see the lie, that he didn't notice how her hands trembled as she spoke. She knew what happened to those who betrayed Dorid's trust. The image of rocks colliding with the bare flesh of a young courtesan, strung up in the middle of the city, would forever be ingrained in her memory. She didn't want that ending for herself. It didn't matter if she was worthless or not, no one deserved that kind of humiliation in death.
Aziel stepped closer to her and though every muscle and tendon was tense in preparation to run, her feet did not move. He was so close now that she could feel the warmth of his body against hers, his soft breaths tickling the shell of her pointed ear as he ducked his head towards it.
"Freedom is a dangerous thing, Nymiria. Just the slightest taste of it will always leave you craving more. I have seen men lose themselves chasing the feeling of it." He whispered. "I've known the wild look in someone's eyes that have had it and I can tell just by looking at you, that you have never known what it feels like to not be chained to something or someone."
Her lips parted, her mind whirring with the buzz of a thousand memories all at once. Nymiria shook her head, replacing the feeling of ropes around her wrists with anger. Anger towards Dorid, anger towards the Yaarboroughs as a whole. Even though Dorid paraded her around as some prized possession, it was also quite apparent that he never saw her as an individual with her own thoughts and feelings. She was just a pretty, obscure creature that knew a lot of things about art and history and the world. She was entertaining and humorous, but she also knew which vein to knick that could have someone bleeding out in seconds. An unsuspecting killer. Something beautiful and poisonous all at once.
No, she hadn't tasted freedom. Perhaps she had gotten a lick, though… because it was something that she so desperately craved. And to crave something, one had to have it within their reach at some point. "Have you tasted freedom, Aziel?" She countered. She watched him for a moment, searching his narrowing eyes as they flickered over the features of her face. His mouth formed a hard line, his dark brows drawing together in the middle. Aziel was not so different. He was just another rarity to adorn the halls of Yaar's grand palace. He was just another subject—another beautiful killer. The question that remained waswhysomeone so notoriously powerful as Aziel Haze would subject himself to the same shackles she also wore?
Finally, she took a step out into the main street and slowly turned away from his perplexed expression. Aziel Haze didn't follow her.
She'd come to realize in this past day that Dorid's Assassin had every chance to kill her for what she'd done in the garden, but he hadn't once sought her out. Being fearful of him would do her no good. Not when there was a knife in her pocket that was calling his name.
The city was bustling, the lunch bells were nearly ten minutes away from sounding through the city of spires and spindles. The city that was painted black and tainted with the evil that loomed over it. Nymiria glanced about to see if Desiree was still with Dieve. Thankfully, she was. And she was staring after Nymiria with a look that said"Don't you dare run off somewhere."
She wouldn't run. She just wanted to put as much space between her and that murderous bastard as possible.
Before she could reach the pastry stall, a large form was stepping into her path. She squinted as she looked up, a small smile forming at her lips when she saw Oran looking down at her, his face drenched in remorse. That flicker of familiarity was back, her body relaxing at his presence.
She couldn't stand it.
"Hello, your majesty," Nymiria lowered herself into a curtsy, but Oran only hooked a hand on her elbow and lifted her up.
"Don't do that." Oran chuckled. "That's not necessary at all. I came to apologize, Nymiria. For what happened. If I had known that it would harm you, I would have never given it to you."
They stared at one another for a long moment, his hand lingering on her elbow far longer than necessary. When she finally realized that he was still holding on to her, she smiled and slipped her arm free from his grasp. "Thank you for your apology. It was very thoughtful of you. I accept it. Now, if you'll excuse me—"
She flanked right, only for Oran to step in front of her again, his large body blocking her path. "What were you and my brother speaking about?" He asked. At the wrinkle that formed above her brow, Oran released a sigh. "I saw the two of you talking. It looked…heated."
"It's not anything you should concern yourself with, your majesty. Aziel was…" She glanced at Desi once again, hoping that the servant would step in and save her from this interaction, but with no such luck. Desi and Dieve were still deep in conversation, neither of them even sparing her a single glance. "Everything is fine, I assure you."
